


Bring him down, king with no crown

by smokesprite



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, brosten, lowkey fantasy lover au, no one asked for this not even me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-08-08 14:58:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16431620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smokesprite/pseuds/smokesprite
Summary: Neil knows his father was a demigod, knows he was party to a world Neil would be better off remaining oblivious to. But when Neil finds a book said to hold the cursed Andrew of Macedon, he feels the answers he could finally get outweigh the risks.Loosely based on Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon and the title is a Lady Gaga lyric, so don't take this too seriously.





	1. Bring him down, King with No Crown

**Author's Note:**

> okay so i wrote this with an online beta software and forgot about it for a while after my trial expired, but hey! Happy early Halloween to both of us i guess!
> 
> You don't need to read the book to get the fic, but the gist of it is: ancient Macedonian general is cursed into a book to be a pleasure slave forever by the godly side of his family, and he falls in love with a woman who jokingly summoned him in modern day New Orleans. I tried to reread Fantasy Lover for this, but it was a bit much, so this is mostly based off of memory and creative license.

 

 

Hold him to your breast and call for him three times on the wings of midnight under the weight of a full moon’s light. He will come to you then, and until the next full moon cycle, his body will be yours to command.  – _Fantasy Lover_ , Sherrilyn Kenyon

 

I’ll bring him down, bring him down, down  
A king with no crown, king with no crown – _Judas_ , Lady Gaga

 

 

“Eat it,” Matt suggested.

Neil, bleary eyed and desperate, was almost willing to try it. “Looks a little bland.”

“Bland? Velum? Nah.”

“You’ve eaten it before?”

“I’m a librarian,” Matt said very seriously. “Eating a book is second only to sleeping on it, when you’re trying to learn through osmosis.”

Neil’s eyes were so dry he almost couldn’t blink, let alone roll them. “I can’t sleep,” he said.

“Then eat up,” Matt motioned at the book.

Instead, Neil clapped it shut and sighed.

“You know,” Matt said carefully, “It would be easier if you would tell me what you were looking for. I know I know,” Matt continued before Neil could argue. “Its private. It’s just… there’s only so much guesswork I can do before your searches get too broad."

Neil knew this—knew he was wasting time on books that were worthless to him. But he couldn’t tell Matt what he was searching for. Not yet, and maybe not ever.

But… was there something he _could_ say? Not anything too revealing, just something that would help narrow the search. Weed out all of the waste Matt was bringing him. Neil fiddled with a hangnail on his index finger.

He paused long enough that Matt turned back to his book. Neil appreciated it—he knew Matt must be frustrated, but he still tread respectfully around Neil’s need for secrecy. Before Neil could come up with something to say, there was a commotion in the stacks.

Characteristically, Neil jumped in his seat. And, characteristically, Matt said, “It’s just Kevin.”

And, like always, that failed to make Neil feel better.

“Just Kevin!” Someone said indignantly. The voice was male, lost in the shelves, and someone Neil hadn’t heard in the library before. His heart started to pound and before he’d fully processed it, he was calculating what he could grab and carry if he needed to make a speedy exit. He almost missed the huffed, “I take offense to that.”

“Oh, sorry.” Matt rolled his eyes. “It’s just Nicky.”

“Who?” Neil ventured, relief shooting through his body as fast as the adrenaline had.

“Nicky Hemmick,” the man finally rounded the corner. “And _who_ are _you_?”

Neil took quick stock of the man. Tall, relaxed posture, no back pack which meant he wasn’t a student or a professor.

“Neil,” Neil said.

“Neil’s an enterprising math major.” Matt volunteered. “Lives here with us, though.”

“Oh?” Nicky invited himself to the seat next to Neil’s. Neil was uncomfortable with that much about himself being out on the table. “Smart and pretty.”

“And completely consumed by a mysterious quest. You’ll have about as much luck with him as you did with Kevin.” Matt added.

 “Too bad,” Nicky sighed wistfully.

Matt punctuated that with a “He’s engaged,” to Neil.

“Erik lives in Germany,” Nicky sighed wistfully again.

“Oh,” was all Neil could think to say.

“Are you here to see Kevin?” Matt asked.

That made Neil tense up again. ‘Nicky’ didn’t sound Greek, but then, neither did ‘Kevin’. Or ‘Riko’, or ‘Jean’, or ‘Nathan’. And it could have been short for something like ‘Nikolaos’, anyway.  

“If by ‘see’ you mean ‘drag him out of his cave for some fun’ then yes, of course.” Nicky eyed Neil for less than a moment before adding, “You two can come along, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Matt said wryly.

“You still doing the straight person nasty with Dan?” Nicky started rifling through the documents and texts on the table. Neil thought Nicky was just doing it to keep his hands busy, but it made him uncomfortable anyways. What if he _found_ something?

If he was in league with Kevin, that could have consequences.

“Yes,” Matt said, “we are very happy, thank you for asking.”

“Alright, alright, just wondering.” Nicky idly paged through the velum book, eyes slightly glassy. Was he really looking at it, or just pretending? “Can’t blame me for checking. You’re still invited, though.”

“I’m not coming,” Neil put that up front.

Nicky pouted, but he didn’t seem too injured about it. For the next five minutes, Matt continued chatting about mundane subjects, and Neil kept scanning Nicky’s replies for any double meanings. He didn’t hear anything suspicious, but wasn’t the fact that Nicky was here for Kevin suspicious enough?

He had to resist the urge to reach up and make sure his hair was still dyed, his contacts were still in, make sure he wasn’t somehow magically wearing a nametag with his real identity for anyone to see.

He’d almost—almost—relaxed back into his chair when someone approached from behind. He probably should have expected it, but it still tripped his heart into a rapid-fire spasm.

“Nicky. Where have you been?”

“Sorry, boss,” Nicky leaned back in his chair impertinently, eyes fixing on something over Neil’s head.

Neil didn’t need to turn to know who it was. He couldn’t have even if he wanted to, he was frozen.

_Boss._

Luckily, Kevin moved from behind him and rapped on the table impatiently. “I’ve been waiting for an hour.”

“Aw, you were waiting for me?” Nicky grinned. “I wasn’t sure you’d remember I was coming, what with all those important papers you have to write.”

“I remembered,” Kevin said shortly.

Neil held his breath.

One did not antagonize Kevin of Thrace. Not if you wanted to live.

But Nicky continued to lounge, and Kevin continued to stand over him, annoyed, but not moving for a weapon.

Neil still remembered the first, and only, time he’d met Kevin. He’d been a young child, eight. It was at a meeting of generals—generals of what, Neil still didn’t know, but he’d met a lot of men like Kevin that night—demigods. Immortal. Party to some war that Neil didn’t understand. The next morning, his mother had taken him and run.

He’d nearly had a heart attack when he’d seen Kevin again in the library, when he’d asked where any greek texts would be and had been directed to ‘Professor Day’s’ office. But Kevin had not seemed to remember him, and the stray thought that if Kevin of Thrace was here then so must be what Neil needed had been the only thing to keep him from running.

Nicky and Kevin had continued their back and forth, and Neil’s muscles did not relax, not once. At this point, he wouldn’t even grab his bag before he ran. He’d just be gone.

But as it ended up, Kevin and Nicky beat him to it. Nicky stood up with a long stretch while Kevin rolled his eyes. “Are you done yet?”

“Not quite,” Nicky turned to Neil. “Sure you don’t want to join? This sour puss actually cleans up quite nicely.”

Neil couldn’t help risking a look at Kevin. Kevin looked like he’d resisted the urge to roll his eyes again, but only because he was focused on Neil.

_Don’t look nervous_ , Neil forced the words through his head, _he doesn’t remember you_.

“I’m good. Thanks.”

“Neil is very dedicated to his research,” Kevin added, still looking at Neil. Neil couldn’t tell if Kevin was backing him up, or threatening him, but before the tension could come to a head Kevin looked away.

“Ugh,” Nicky groaned. “Well, I broke you, I’ll break Neil as well.”

_Break?_

But they left after that, and Neil would’ve melted into a puddle if his chair hadn’t been holding him up.

Matt gave him a few minutes to collect himself before speaking. “You don’t have anything going on this evening, do you?”

“I’m not going out with—”

“No, no, I wasn’t asking you to. I meant, would you want to do something else?”

“Oh. Um.” Neil liked Matt, that wasn’t the problem. He’d just never had anyone over to his apartment. The only people in this town who knew where he lived were strangers in the admissions office.

  
“It’s a research thing,” Matt said, but the shine in his eyes made Neil wary. “Something we haven’t tried.”  

It was a cautious assent that found its way into the air between them.

“Okay.”

 

~~~

 

“Kevin’s magic tome.”

Those were the first words out of Matt's mouth as he walked in the door that night. Neil had ordered pizza and was already a few slices in as he sat and paged through some of the books he'd been allowed to take home with him.

“His what?” Neil perked up.

“Kevin has this big leather book he guards with his life. Takes it everywhere with him, he’s obsessed with it.”

"And he...gave it to you?"

"No. I took it."

Panic.

"Relax. Nicky won’t let Kevin stop partying long enough to even notice its gone."

_Speak_ , he forced the command through the panic. _Speak before Matt notices something is wrong._ He finally managed, "So, what's inside?"

"Don't know," Matt's eyes crinkled at the corners. "Figured we'd open it together. Dan just about died when she heard what we were doing tonight. She wants in, but I told her you'd given me your address in strict confidence."

Neil's eyes were glued to the book. It didn't seem particularly magical—just old. Deep brown, leather bound, and not even very thick. How many secrets did the volume hold? How much of this should Neil let Matt see?

Matt was already settled next to Neil on the couch, opening it.

Neil almost jumped, this was all happening too fast, when he realized the first page was blank. He let Matt turn to the second, then the third.

"What the hell?" Matt asked.

"Maybe it's invisible ink," Neil said.

“Did the Greeks have invisible ink?” Matt asked.

“Are we sure it’s Greek?”

Matt set it carefully on the coffee table and rested his chin on his hands to study it. “Why else would Kevin have it?”

Neil edged forward slowly. Logically, he knew it wouldn’t bite, knew that if it were going to spring a curse it didn’t matter if he were inching forward slowly. But he’d been taught caution in all things.

Matt respected his suspicion and picked up the TV remote.

“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d have a TV.”

Neil hadn’t exactly wanted one, but when the landlord had stopped by with an offer on a cheap television set he’d acted like Neil should be ingratiated, to the point it would’ve been conspicuous to turn him down, so Neil had bought it. It went well with the couch and coffee table, anyway.

The screen stayed blank, as it wasn’t plugged in, and Matt went over to inspect chords while Neil hovered his hand slightly over the brown leather cover of the tome.

The hair on the back of his neck rose.

Was this what the power of the gods felt like?

He took a deep breath in, released it, and ran a single finger down the book’s spine. The leather was worn smooth and his finger slipped easily over it.

“Hey, do you have cable?”

The book creaked as it opened, the papers crackling with age and, perhaps, something else. The air seemed to hum.

“It should be pretty easy, after this, I just need to plug…”

Page after page remained impassively blank, and Neil felt as if he was being stared down, until he reached the middle. Finally—a page with a single sketch on it.

Two men, twins, back to back, bushels of oversized poppies climbing the page and crowding a section of text. It was disturbing, Neil thought, that though the men were drawn with extreme care and—dare he assume—passion, their expressions were equally blank.

“Does your landlord—whoa.”

Neil studied the shaded faces and Matt leaned in close.

"Kevin hordes antique porn?" Matt guessed.

"Look at the inscription." Neil pointed. " _Punishment…curse…summon on the full moon. Andrew of Macedon.”_

“Sounds like a title,” Matt tapped one of the men, “But which one is Andrew?”

“What’s this phrase here?"

“Mmm…” Matt’s face twisted, “Something like ‘he knows?”

Ancient Greek wasn’t wholly unknown, but it was a very old language. Neil knew only the Greek that his mother had taught him, and it was far from Matt’s area of expertise; it itched at him, the ways they might be misinterpreting. There wasn’t any room for error in this. Perhaps if Kevin had notes on this tome…but, Neil would be a fool to ever search for them. This was likely the only shot he’d ever have at Kevin’s personal effects.

“ _He knows_ ,” Neil played with the translation, “ _everything I desire_? _All that I could want?_ ”

“Huh. I guess they seem…all knowing.” Matt eventually remarked.

“I don’t care what they look like,” Neil told him. "Do you think they answer questions?"

"One way to find out." Matt cleared this throat. “I summon thee--"

"Stop!" Neil yelped.

"What?"

"We can't actually summon them!"

"Come on. You really believe they'll jump out of the book?"

"I believe...in some...things," Neil said.

"That was characteristically vague."

"What if they tattle back to Kevin?"

"Then I'll deal with the fact that the book I stole was actually magic and you can be off to...I don't know, find treasure, or whatever it is you need to know."

Neil hedged.

"Come on," Matt repeated.

"If Kevin thinks it’s real, it could be."

Matt’s look didn't change. "You really want to whittle away your days in a university library with me?”

_Breathe_ , he reminded himself.

Poppies were used as a medicinal drug in Ancient Greece. They could symbolize sleep, or peace, or death. These men could be doctors; he really didn’t like doctors, and they tended not to like him back. They could be spirits. They could be assassins. And there was something off about the inscription, something Neil wasn’t quite understanding.

_This might be your only chance at something worthwhile._

"Fine," Neil finally breathed. "Fine. You really think they’ll have what I need?”

“It’s what the book promises.” Matt shrugged. “I mean, that's assuming we believe in magical books. But, yeah. Its what’s in the translation?”

Neil nodded.

"Great!" Matt cleared his throat again. "I summon thee, twins, to help Neil in all the mysterious ways he needs to be helped.”

“I don’t need help with this part.” Neil tried to snatch the book. "If it’s going to invite some fiery vengeance, let me bear the brunt of it."

Something in his expression must finally have struck Matt as serious, because Matt's joking manner fell. "Okay. Okay, you do it."

Neil took the book, cleared his throat, and looked down.

"Andrew of Macedon, Andrew of Macedon, Andrew of Macedon. I summon thee."

They waited. Nothing.

"Well," Matt said. “Pizza?”

Pizza was almost enjoyable. Matt flipped through channels, talking about Dan and work and life. Neil mostly listened, but chimed in every once in a while with something that made Matt laugh. If it weren’t for the stolen artifact on the coffee table in front of them, Neil would’ve almost wanted to do it again.

"Here, I'll take it.” Matt offered as he was leaving. “Put it back before Kevin even notices it's gone."

"No." Neil said, resisting the urge to reach out and stop Matt from touching the book.

"No?"

"I'd...I’d like to hold onto it. Just for tonight. I can put it back in the morning. Kevin will be hung over anyways, right?"

"Right." Matt said. Then, he winked.

"What?"

"Gonna look at it all night long?"

Probably.

"Maybe Nicky was right. Maybe you're not such a lost cause."

What? Oh. Neil rolled his eyes.

"See you tomorrow, Matt."

Once Matt was gone, it felt like the book was staring at him. Neil periodically flipped through, then left to clean something. Then flipped through, and then left to put his leftovers away. He kept coming back, however, and eventually something in him broke.

“Fine,” he said, with more vitriol than he’d had with Matt. “Fine.”

He opened the door to the apartment's back 'porch', a small slab of concrete that gave way to patchy grass, and stepped out. He wasn’t sure if tonight was the exact full moon, but it looked full enough. If he was going to do something that went so against his mother’s wishes, might as well do it right.

He held the book to his chest. “I summon thee, I summon thee, I summon thee,” then, for good measure. “ _ Sas kaló _ . I need your help.”

 

~~~

 

It was midnight.

He knew this because the newscaster told him so.

Neil was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep, and instead sat on the floor in front of the couch, bleary gaze fixed on the coffee table where the tome sat flipped open to the sketch. It hadn’t moved, but the unease Neil felt from looking at it hadn’t gone away either, and it kept him awake.

He could break into the library.

He’d done so before, a test of his abilities, although he’d never tested to see if Kevin had put magical wards around his office. Neil didn’t even know if such things were possible, just operated as if they were.

It was a question he could ask Andrew of Macedon, if Andrew of Macedon ever showed up.

Neil’s head bobbed, his vision cut out, and he got the sense it was only a minute before he snapped himself back to consciousness. That was still too long. He stood, he stretched, he needed more coffee.

Neil stumbled to the kitchen to prep the pot. Just a few more hours and he’d be walking in through the libraries open doors, going into Kevin’s office, casting a long and curious look at the walls before leaving the tome, hoping Kevin would never be the wiser.

But who was Andrew of Macedon?

And who was Andrew of Macedon to Kevin of Thrace?

He’d racked his memory enough times to know he wouldn’t come up with anything. If he’d ever heard Andrew’s name, it had been lost to the same haze that had taken other childhood memories. Perhaps it had been said once in his father’s study, perhaps he’d even seen Andrew—the thought cut off as abruptly as it began.

_Crack._

Neil’s head snapped towards the window. He was on the ground floor of the complex, his backyard little more than a few bushes, a few trees, a lot of grass, before the next block began. It was probably just a stray cat.

He stepped away from the window, backing into the living room. He regretted leaving the news on at a low hum; it illuminated him, and the reflection of the screen on the window stopped him from seeing outside.

He crouched, casting a quick eye towards the tome, meaning only to check it was still there and froze.

The page was blank.

He dove towards the book, flipping forwards and then backwards, but the men were no longer there. It was completely empty.

Neil cast another anxious look toward the door.

He rose to his feet.

It wasn’t a cat. He knew it wasn’t a cat.

Night air caressed his face as he slid the back door open, cool concrete met the pads of his feet, silence met his ears.

He scanned the yard, but it wasn’t necessary. Two pale figures stood bathed in moonlight, dressed in little more than a few artfully draped strips of cloth. They were shorter than Neil would have expected from the sketches, but no less corded in muscle. And their expressions were as blank as the page they’d just left.

One of the twins stepped forward, eyes hard and glinting in the low light.

Neil stepped forward to meet him. If he thought his heart couldn’t take facing Kevin, he was absolutely lightheaded now. This was it—this was the magic he’d been looking for. The magic we was sure existed.

“You’re Andrew of Macedon.”

“And you,” Andrew took another step forward, so close that Neil could hear his breathing, “are an idiot who cannot read.”


	2. Just a Holy Fool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this spiraled waaaay out of control. There's gonna be one more chapter before it's over.

I’m just a Holy Fool, oh baby he’s so cruel

But I’m still in love with Judas, baby

I’m just a Holy Fool, oh baby he’s so cruel

But I’m still in love with Judas, baby

_ -Judas _ , Lady Gaga

  
  


For men as naked as Andrew and Aaron were, they had no business being so judgemental of Neil’s wardrobe.

“It will fit, won’t it?” Neil asked.

Andrew refused to answer.

Aaron continued eating. It had been a solid, stunning moment of silence after Andrew of Macedon had emerged from the book and called Neil an idiot. But the moment had passed, and the twins had warily made their way inside of Neil’s apartment. Aaron had torn into the cold pizza still on the coffee table. Andrew had yet to touch anything, and Neil hadn’t offered anything but the clothes.

“Please put it on,” Neil wasn’t begging; it was more like a desperate request.

“Is that your first command?” It was a slow challenge, the thick accent acting on the words much the way a knife to the throat would have. 

“Yes.” The word felt loaded.

Andrew pulled the sweatshirt over his head with a lot more aggression than Neil felt the action was owed, and treated the sweatpants with equal force.

“And...you?” Neil turned his gaze to Aaron.

Andrew blocked it with a hand, redirecting Neil’s focus back to him.

“I’d actually like some clothes, yeah.” Aaron said around a mouth of pizza. “Andrew, you should try some of this. It’s good.”

“Help yourself to whatever. That’s pizza.” Neil put in lamely.

“I know what it is,” Andrew hissed, stepping in closer. 

“How,” Neil demanded. “You’ve been trapped in paper for the past millennium.”

“It’s a void. We can’t see anything, but we can hear what’s happening around the book,” Aaron said around a mouthful of pizza.

“Quiet.”

“Come on. He doesn’t know what the book says, and it’s not like he can read it now,” Aaron’s eyes fell on the blank tome and he scowled at it. “Eat his food and wear his clothes. He’s harmless.”

“Shut up, or have you forgotten you’re an idiot too?” Andrew didn’t look at his brother as he insulted him. After a moment more of intense scrutiny, Andrew decided on something, “Ask your questions and be done with us.”

Neil paused. “I thought I was the one giving orders.”

Andrew snatched the second pair of clothes and tossed them to Aaron. “Tick tock.”

“Fine. How long have you been in there?”

“A few thousand years since the curse began, give or take. 30 years since we were last let out.” Andrew answered. “My turn. Where is Kevin?”

If Neil got this wrong, he would be in more danger than ever before. Just because he’d gotten the twins out of the book didn’t necessitate that they needed him--they’d just as well as told him he’d misunderstood the curse. “Alive. Not around, though. You’re stuck with me. What’s your relationship with Kevin?”

“Relationship,” Andrew sneered. “Kevin keeps us close, we’re his security blanket.”

“Against Riko?” Neil guessed.

“Wait your turn. No, actually, take your turn.” Andrew stepped in closer. He smelled like dust, like a page on the back shelf in the most abandoned stack of the library. “What are you so desperate to know?”

“Which god does Nathan serve?”

There. It was out, the question he’d turned over and over for years. Asked in a moment, with a single breath of air.

Andrew blinked. “Who?”

“Nathan. Demigod. General of… He was one of Kengo Moriyama’s men. Red hair? No?” Neil couldn’t tell if Andrew was bluffing.

“No,” Andrew said. “For a moment, I thought this might actually be interesting.”

Then the weight of Andrew’s scrutiny passed, and Andrew and Aaron ate the rest of the pizza in absolute silence. Aaron got pizza sauce on Neil’s favorite pair of sweatpants, and instead of letting Neil wash them, he crossed his legs and refused to take them off.

All in all a fruitless night, except that even through his bedroom door Neil swore he could feel the weight of Andrew’s eyes.

 

~~~

 

Matt blinked tiredly at him.

“Noon, huh?” He asked. It didn’t seem like a real question, so Neil didn’t say anything as Matt put his coffee and bookbag on the table they always shared and stretched before falling haphazardly into the chair across from Neil. “‘S the book back in Kevin’s office?”

“Not exactly.” Neil said. 

Matt’s lips curled up knowingly. “Kept it for the night?”

“What do you know about Andrew of Macedon?”

“He’s not really a part of my area of expertise. I don’t think I’d heard of him until last night,” Matt thought on it. “Dan and Allison are going to interrogate you. Just a heads up,  I may have told them we took Kevin’s prized possession.”

Neil would worry about that later. For now, “I’ve looked through the catalog, there’s nothing on Andrew of Macedon here. If there is, it’s either buried in a reference book somewhere or hidden in Kevin’s office.”

“Hidden?” Matt’s eyebrows shot up.

“Except I looked at all the books he has in his office, and I’ve found copies of most of them. Can you think of a particular stack he likes to hang out by? Somewhere he might’ve… stashed books he doesn’t want other people seeing?”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s not technically morning, but it’s still too early for this. Are you suggesting Kevin has tried to cover up the existence of a random Macedonian guy starting with a university library in South Carolina?”

Neil didn’t know how to say ‘yes’ to a question like that, and he definitely didn’t know how to explain that it might not be random.

“Okay,” Matt sighed. “I’m a librarian. I took an oath to do everything in my power to help wayward souls find answers.”

“There’s an oath?” Neil asked.

“I’ll check, discreetly, with some...contacts.”

“By contacts do you mean the other grad students?”

“Yes I mean the other grad students,” Matt shrugged.

“Thank you.” Neil said. Even if one of them slipped up in front of Kevin, Neil hoped that too many people would know the name Andrew of Macedon that it would take time for Kevin to trace the questions back to Matt and Neil. Enough time for Neil to run. Just to be safe, he added, “Kevin can’t know.”

“I’ll start with ones who avoid Kevin at all costs--there are plenty of them.” Matt sipped his coffee. “The last student to present his thesis to Kevin dropped off the face of the earth, you know.”

“I know,” Neil had heard many variations of this story before.

It might’ve been centuries since his last battle, but Kevin of Thrace didn’t shake habits easy. ‘Professor Day’ was a hardass.

“Last night was fun, we should do it again sometime,” Matt said, and Neil didn’t have the heart to shoot him down. He hummed absentmindedly instead.

Neil flipped through a textbook for a few more hours, but he couldn’t focus on what it was saying. All he could think about were the two ancient greeks in his home and what Kevin would do when he realized his book was gone.

 

~~~

 

The twins liked coffee. They’d brewed about three pots that morning, and when Neil got home they both cradled mugs filled to the brim. Andrew lay slumped on the couch, eyes closed and feet up on the coffee table. Aaron sat across the room, back against the wall, flipping through channels on the TV.

“You don’t officially exist, you know. Neither of you.”

“That’s bold of you to say,” Andrew didn’t open his eyes. “Especially to my face.”

“Have you had any more time to think about the name Nathan?”

“I’ve had the time,” Andrew said. 

Neil waited. When it seemed like Andrew had fallen asleep, Neil turned to Aaron. “What about you?”

Aaron regarded Neil with the same judgemental eye he’d been dealing Neil the entire time, then decided the infomercial on the TV was more interesting. 

“What about him?” Andrew asked.

“Do you know Nathan?” Neil asked Aaron directly. “Ancient Greek general. Demigod. You might’ve served with him, or fought against him?”

“Aaron was never a soldier,” Andrew, again, spoke for his brother, who was still flipping through channels. 

Neil took a moment to digest that. “But you were.”

“I was.”

He thought on it for another moment. 

He sat on the end of the couch, careful to keep space between him and Andrew. “I summoned you for a purpose. I may not have understood the full translation, but from the jist of it, you have to know what I want.”

Andrew tilted his head, studying Neil with hooded eyes.

“And what I want to know is which god someone named Nathan served.” Neil continued when Andrew remained silent. “You were a general in Ancient Greece.”

“‘Andrew of Macedon, Andrew of Macedon, I summon thee, et cetera, et cetera, blah blah blah.’” Andrew recited.

“You served with Kevin of Thrace, and he had your book for a while. He’s home with a hangover.” Neil offered the information like an olive branch.

“Kevin is always hungover.” Andrew’s eyes were still closed. “He was just as much of a drunk then as he is now.”

“Who did you fight against?”

Aaron snorted. “Who didn’t they fight against?” 

“Quiet,” Andrew warned his brother. “Illyria and Epirus. There was Riko of Rome. Jean, the idiot Etruscan. But I already told you, I never fought a Nathan. Not one whose name I ever learned, anyway.”

“Riko,” Neil knew that name. “Tetsuji’s ward. Kengo’s son.”

“You know the Moriyamas.”

“I know of them. They’re not greek names, they stand out.”

Andrew shrugged. “Riko’s mother was a god. Many of the leading greek generals were demigods. It was enough for Riko to want in on the wars--something about proving himself to his father.”

“So he sided with Rome.”

“He  _ lead _ Rome.” Andrew corrected.

“Was he the one who put you in the book?”

Andrew’s grip on his coffee mug tightened. “No.”

“Then who--”

“You asked your question.” Andrew’s golden eyes were hard, and Neil could tell he was done. It was frustrating; Andrew was the closest thing he had to a window into his father’s world and he refused to cooperate. “You won’t get an answer.”

“Then I’ll keep asking.” It sounded like a threat, and Neil wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t one.

 

~~~

 

Neil leaned his head over the book and tried to act natural. He couldn’t break from his routine, not so soon after Kevin’s book went missing and not when he still didn’t know how Nicky fit into all of this. Not when he didn’t know how he himself fit into it.

Matt had a study session in a different building, so Neil was on his own today, and as he leafed through a book on mythological creatures pretending to pay attention, his thoughts wandered.

Professor Day had scoured the library top to bottom, hurrying back and forth past Neil’s table many times in the process. Neil intended to stay in full sight until at least noon. But how long could he keep this up? How long until Andrew, or Aaron, went looking for their old friend?

There was only so long he could force himself to sit there. He lasted until 11:27 before gathering his things and making a beeline towards the door. He needed to get to the apartment and make sure the Minyards were still there. He needed to figure out if they were hiding his answers, and why, or if were being truthful about not knowing his father. Of course, he wasn’t nearly that lucky. A familiar head of dark hair caught him on the way out. 

“You know,” Nicky leaned against the doorway, blocking Neil’s exit, “my ancestors were sexy Macedonian generals.”

“Were they?” Neil’s heart squeezed.

“Yeah. They were cursed into a book to serve as sex slaves for the rest of eternity though, so you don’t find many sources mentioning them,” Nicky shrugged as if to say,  _ ain’t that just the way _ .

“That’s...rough,” Neil said.  _ My father was a demigod hell bent on sticking me in the middle of a holy feud as a bargaining chip. Are your ancestors looking for a roommate? Because I might need a new hideaway if this gets any more out of control. _

And, sex slaves? He ran through the incantation several times and decided there may have been a sexual bent to it. He’d have to ask Andrew.

He couldn’t say any of that, though, and apparently there was no trace of it on his face because Nicky leaned in closer. “Kevin lost the book. Don’t suppose you’ve seen it?”

“No,” Neil didn’t stutter.

“Want to help me look?” With the amount of innuendo Nicky was able to pack into those five words, Neil had no choice but to believe he was descended from concubines.

“I’m good.”

“Hmm,” Nicky sent him a regretful look. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

 

~~~

 

Aaron was finally asleep. Decades in a book wasn’t conducive to a regular sleeping schedule, and Neil had begun to think the demigods didn’t even need rest. But the sprawled form on the couch disproved that.

Neil made his way into the kitchen and stood at one end of the counter, while Andrew stood at the other eating ravioli out of the can.

“Sex slaves?”

“Took you long enough.”

“That’s why you don’t know the answers to my question. The text didn’t mean you were all knowing, you’re just supposed to do whatever I want you to.”

Andrew’s interest in the conversation was fading, the ravioli becoming more important than Neil. He scraped the side of the can, licking sauce off of the fork.

Neil had thought about it on the bus ride home, and decided it would be too risky to return the twins to Kevin just yet. They didn’t know his father, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t lead him to Neil by accident. Especially if Kevin got any more involved. “You fought the Moriyamas. Nathan worked for them. Who did they serve?”

Andrew sighed. “Who knows. Alliances back then, especially with gods, were...shifty.”

“Keep thinking.”

It must have been something in Neil’s tone that drew Andrew’s attention. He set the can on the table with a dull clank and stepped forward until he was nose to nose with Neil.

“How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t have your answers.”

“Until I’m sure you have been through every memory, every name, every face, every bit of knowledge you possess about the Moriyamas.” Neil said. “Nathan worked directly under Kengo. There is no way you could have missed him.”

Andrew, impossibly, took another step forward. His breath was hot against Neil’s cheek.

“Why do you want to know so badly?”

Neil’s heart stalled. “You don’t need to know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

They were at a standoff, and Neil didn’t know how long he could hold Andrew’s gaze before breaking.

“You think just because I’ve been in a scroll for the past millennium I don’t have contacts? There are still debts to be paid, favors owed. I don’t have your answers now, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t find out.”

“What would you want in return?”

“I want out.” Andrew almost growled. “We’re not staying cooped up in your apartment all month.”

Neil needed to parse it out. He stepped back, grabbing the can of ravioli and busying himself by pouring what was left into a bowl and microwaving it. The timer passed the two minute mark when Neil finally said,“You’re saying if I let you out, you’ll use the time to figure out what I want to know.”

“Let me out,” the words sounded sour in Andrew’s mouth.

The microwave beeped.

“No Kevin.” Neil said.

“We won’t involve Kevin.”

Neil slid a bowl of hot ravioli over to Andrew.

“Then it’s a deal.”

 

~~~

 

Neil hadn’t noticed anything about the twins, but after only an hour in public he was convinced they had some sort of glamour. People were drawn to them, couldn’t stop themselves from looking, but they were also frightened. 

They couldn’t help but recoil, even as they stared.

If the twins noticed, they didn’t show it. They busied themselves taking in the view of a world that had changed drastically since they’d last been summoned. The cars, the billboards, the shopping mall. All of it warranted scrutiny.

When they got to the elevator Neil avoided it instinctually, it was an enclosed space with one exit, while the Minyards rubbernecked. But the escalators were no more trustworthy to the twins, and they spent several long minutes in front of them before Neil finally stepped on and hoped they would follow.

They got to the second floor of the shopping mall without injury, but Aaron resigned himself to sulk whenever Neil looked his way. Neil thought he might’ve been embarrassed at having been intimidated by moving stairs.

“Are you hungry?”

“Always,” Aaron answered.

“Then pick somewhere.” Neil motioned to the food court in front of them. 

The three of them cased the area, taking into account all possible threats, and when Andrew decided on Noodles and co. it was unanimous. Whenever he went out with Matt--which wasn’t often, just the occasional lunch--he had to hide this part of his thoughts. It was strange to realize his companions were seeing the same things he was, that he wouldn’t have to talk himself out of any strategically unsound locations.  The only issue they had was deciding who would get the wall seat of the booth, and whose back would be towards the rest of the room. 

“If I get knifed,” Aaron began.

“I’m sure the 50 year old woman behind you with her grandkids is thirsty for blood.” Neil cut in.

“Then trade me,” Aaron said, and that halted that line of mockery.

In the end, Aaron trusted Andrew with both of their backs, and Neil scooted in as close to Andrew on the walled side of the booth as he dared.

“So,” Neil said once they’d ordered, “is the modern world living up to what you thought it would be?”

“Hard as it might be to believe,” Neil could hear Aaron’s sarcasm even through the accent, “we did not have any high aspirations for what the 2000s would be like.”

“Speak for yourself. I’ve been giddy to see an episode of Seinfeld for years.” Andrew said flatly. 

“I suppose the liquor ought to be interesting,” Aaron amended.

The table lapsed into silence, and they ate without looking at each other. Neil mentally put a ban on ‘is this what you imagined it would be’ questions, and small talk of any sort, which left only questions about Nathan and the twins themselves.

He imagined Andrew would garrote him with a noodle if Neil pried about their imprisonment in the middle of a shopping mall food court.

It wasn’t until the end of the meal that something truly alarming happened. A woman approached the table, smile on her glossy lips, loosely curled blond hair falling over one shoulder. Neil recognized her from the university--she was Matt’s friend, Allison. But why was she approaching them now?

“Tyche,” Andrew sneered.

“Andrew,” Allison said pleasantly. “Glad to see you are well.”

“Sure you are.”

_ Tyche _ , the greek goddess of luck. Adrenaline shot through Neil’s veins. Looking between the two, whose gazes had locked, Neil sensed that neither of them was going to look away first. There was a history, and Neil’s mind raced through ways to extricate himself from it.

He did not need the greek goddess of luck targeting him; he had enough bad luck on his own and every chance, every opportunity, every coincidence, was necessary to his survival.

Allison--Tyche’s--gaze fixed onto Neil.

She blinked.

“I know you, you’re Matt’s project.” She laughed. “Kevin of Thrace was in possession of your book?  _ That’s _ what Matt took from his office?” 

Andrew didn’t respond.

“Some treasure,” Allison shook her head. 

“Good as it is to see you again,” Andrew stood, “we’re done here.”

“Are we?” Allison challenged.

“Neil is buying us clothes,” Aaron said, interjecting before Andrew could say anything.

“The people who summon the twins don’t do that,” Allison’s heavy stare swung back to Neil. “Unless--oh, you mean lingerie.”

“No, I mean clothes,” Aaron said, punctuating it with an annoyed gesture towards Neil, “Eight ratty outfits might work for him, but between the three of us it’s a stretch. Now, come on, I want to go back to the store with the sweaters in the window.”

That last bit was directed to Neil, who’d frozen.

“They’re ordering you around? To each his own,” Allison tilted her head and gave him another once over, eyebrow raising at whatever she saw. “If that’s what gets you off.”

“I didn’t summon them for  _ that _ .” Neil managed.

“At least you have some sense underneath all that…” her eyes fixed on his plaid flannel. “ _ That _ .”

Allison turned to Andrew again, and whatever catty remarks they traded were undecipherable from where Neil was paying at the counter. Andrew did his best to look bored. Allison did her best to rile him up. Aaron did his best to keep things from escalating. Neil handed cash to the cashier and did his best to keep his hands from shaking. 

He knew he’d been walking into something irreversible when he’d summoned the Minyards but he hadn’t expected the rest of his father’s world to catch up quite so quickly. Especially not in the form of someone he already knew. 

Allison, Andrew, and Aaron had moved to stand at the edge of the food court, and Neil strode quickly to catch up to them. 

“I’m joining,” Allison’s tone left no room for questions. “I cannot allow you to follow your own fashion instincts. It would be a crime.”

Aaron snorted.

“Um, I think we’ll be okay.” Neil said weakly. Allison didn’t waste her time arguing, just led them towards a store of her liking. 

Neil was on high alert the entire time, but they didn’t say anything he could use. Their chit chat was mundane, when they were speaking at all. The most notable thing was when Andrew balled up a black skin-tight shirt and threw it at Neil and Allison explicitly approved, “You read my mind, Andrew.”

Neil was feeling vaguely insulted by Andrew and Allison’s quiet race about who could pick out the most clothes for Neil--and how often they could force the other to agree with them--when Aaron stepped behind a jeans rack and let out a virulent curse in Ancient Greek.

Neil looked up to another familiar face: Seth, Allison’s on-again-off-again boyfriend. It hadn’t occurred to him until this moment that Seth might be a god too. Allison was ambivalent to Neil, but Seth disliked everyone. He had the potential to be more of a threat than Allison, Neil was immediately on his toes, ready to sprint at the first sight of trouble.

“These twerps are out again?” Seth scornfully looked Andrew up and down. He gave the same treatment to Neil--and Neil did not like being so  _ seen _ . “Letting your dogs off the leash for an afternoon? Not very smart. Those psychos bite.”

Andrew grinned at Seth with teeth. “Speaking from experience, are we?”

The last bit of hope that Seth was just some mortal Allison had hooked up with went out the window. These two knew each other--and well enough to hate each other.

“Seth, buying clothes for these idiots is taking all of my focus,” Allison said. “Please don’t start a fight with one of them.”

“As long as they don’t provoke me,” Seth said.

Neil got the feeling that it wouldn’t take much to provoke Seth, especially not when he wanted to punch someone. He certainly didn’t make it easy to ignore him. He teased the twins mercilessly, ridiculing everything they touched and making cruel innuendoes. 

Neil leaned over to Allison at one point and said quietly, “I’m not threatening Seth, but I’m not sure how much more Andrew is going to put up with.”

Allison lifted one shoulder carelessly. “Seth can fight his own fights.”

Neil didn’t like that answer--it was too vague to give any idea of what Allison was really thinking. Would she intervene if they got into a fight? Would she ignore it? Was she implying Seth would win?

“It’s ironic that you do what he says,” Seth latched onto the same conclusion Allison had come to. “None of his other men ever could.”

“Shut up,” Aaron said, examining himself in a mirror.

“A little bit girly, isn’t it?” Seth tugged at the hood of a sweatshirt Aaron had just pulled over his head, and he went to say more, but he didn’t get the chance. The moment he touched Aaron he sealed his own fate.

Andrew slammed into him, twisting his arm and jamming a hanger into his throat. The hammer wasn’t sharp, but it must’ve been thrust hard enough that gagged for a second before regaining his wits. Andrew hauled him, struggling, over to the door and threw him out of the shop front.

“I’m calling security!” The clerk warned them.

Andrew looked ready to wipe his hands of Seth, but Seth wasn’t going to let what had just happened go. He rushed at Andrew and grabbed him around the waist, lifting him into the air. Andrew’s head snapped back into Seth’s nose. Seth stumbled, still holding onto Andrew.

Andrew drove his heel into Seth’s knee, sending them both sprawling on the floor. Seth tried to pin Andrew down, but Andrew was too quick. He raised both legs and braced his feet on Seth’s shoulders and  _ kicked _ . Seth went flying.

“Stop it,” Allison’s voice rang out, and Neil could feel the power in it. He was already frozen, but when she said that, the clerk halted her call to security. The onlookers went stock still. Seth and Andrew faced each other warily.

“I don’t take orders from you, Tyche,” Andrew warned, though he remained still. “If your  _ escort _ wants to pick a fight you should let him finish it.”

“I said cut it out,” Allison dropped a number of purchases on the counter. “I’m not getting thrown out because of you, I shop here too often. Seth go wait in the car.”

Seth didn’t look like he was any more willing to break this off than Andrew was. But, surprisingly, Neil could see the tension go out of Andrew’s shoulders. The smaller man relaxed so much as to even put his hands in his pockets while he stared at his opponent from under heavy lids.

It was almost like Andrew was taunting Seth.

“Seth.” Allison said, softer, “I’ve got this.”

Seth spat on the ground. “This isn’t over, freak.”

Andrew gave a two fingered salute, but Seth was already storming off. Andrew leaned on the wall outside, unwilling to reenter the store. Allison finished buying the clothes--the bill was more money than Neil spent in a month, but Allison didn’t even blink as she handed over her credit card. 

They brought the bags out to Andrew--and it took all three of them to do it. 

Neil ran through the fight again in his head and tried to remember what Aaron had been doing. Now, he looked Andrew up and down with a practiced eye, and looked like he wanted to do more but a moment  of fiere eye contact with Andrew dissuaded him.

“Sorry about that.” Allison didn’t sound sorry.

“I know how you could make it up to us.” Andrew said.

“Besides buying you hundreds of dollars of clothing?”

“Do you know a Nathan?” Andrew asked. 

Neil almost choked on his own breath.

Allison grimaced. “I’ve probably met a thousand Nathans, but I don’t remember a single one of them. Who is he?”

Andrew shrugged, “I was asking you. Don’t repeat the question--if he’s real, he sounds like the kind of man you don’t want finding you.”

“If he’s real?” Allison shook her head. “You are crazy. We still need to get you shoes, come on. This way.”

Andrew met Neil’s eyes behind Allison’s back as if to say,  _ See? I keep my promises _ . 

 

~~~

 

Neil let the hot water fill the tub and imagined how it would scald his skin. After that afternoon, all he wanted to do was sink into the water, and never come back up. But a bath just wasn’t in the cards. He jimmied the window above the tub open and balanced precariously, pulling himself up and--

He could hear the bathroom door swing open behind him as he felt a hand grab hold of his ankle and pull.

Neil tumbled down, a hard fall, into the bathtub.

Hot water scorched his legs, his torso, his face. He came up gasping with the idea that he would climb out, but Andrew leaned over him menacingly. Neil stiffened.

“Leaving, are we?” Andrew’s voice was sweet, and Neil’s internal alarms howled. “What, did you think that just because we got a few new shirts we wouldn’t notice yours were all packed up? Allison would be insulted, after all she spent on you today.”  

His duffle bag had landed on the edge of the tub and slid down onto the floor.

Andrew kicked it aside and sat on the toilet, which was still close enough to the tub that he could lean over and change the temperature without straining. Neil gave some thought to kicking Andrew’s hands as he adjusted the knobs, but given how Andrew had squared up that afternoon, he wouldn’t get far. 

Neil settled back into the tub.

“There’s still something I’m not getting.” Andrew said. “It would be easier if you would just tell me what it is.”

“Why do you care?” Neil said instead of answering. “I could've been out of here and halfway to a bus station by now, and you’d have the apartment to yourself for the rest of the month. You don’t want that?”

“I don’t want anything.”

“Then let me leave.”

Andrew absentmindedly stirred the water with one finger. “We’re not done talking about Nathan. Who is he to you?

“I can see the fear in your eyes when you talk about him.” It would’ve been conversational, if not for Andrew’s posture. “I can see some of that fear when you talk about Kevin. I saw it today, with Tyche. What are you so scared of?”

Andrew’s finger brushed Neil’s leg, and they both jumped away from the contact. Andrew drew his own hand into his lap and covered it with his other arm, as if to hold it there.

Something suddenly clicked into place, things that Allison and Seth, and even Aaron, had said that afternoon.

“Are you...that is, are you compelled…?”

“Do I want to fuck you?” Andrew finished for him, a false smile revealed his teeth. Neil got the feeling he’d lunge for his throat, if he could. “It’s part of the curse. I can’t help but want to please you.”

“Well, nothing would please me more than to not be touched,” Neil said. Andrew looked on blankly. “I mean it. I’ve never felt that way about another person. I’ve never wanted to and I still don’t. So, don’t.”

“‘So, don’t’,” Andrew quoted, his tone and expression still indecipherable. 

Neil couldn’t figure out if he preferred this unreadability, or the saccharine sweetness from earlier.  _ Neither _ , Neil decided. He’d rather just be left alone.

_ Drop it _ , his instincts told him.

“My father worked for Nathan,” Neil volunteered. Andrew’s face didn’t change. “When I was a child, my mother took me and ran because of a bad business deal he’d made, and when she died I had a lot of unanswered questions. I just want to know--”

“Who Nathan served,” Andrew’s eyes narrowed. “Why? Going after Nathan’s place?”

“No,” Neil flinched. “I just want to know who I’ve been running from my entire life.”

Andrew studied him for a long, long moment.

“Stay,” he finally said. “Stay and I will find you your answers. If Nathan’s people come for you here, I will fight. When Aaron and I return to the book you will make sure it is returned to Kevin. And you will not touch either one of us while we are here.”

“I already told you, I don’t want to touch you.”

Andrew didn’t dignify that with an answer, just left Neil to soak, fully clothed, in the tub.

 

~~~

 

“Allison says you have friends.”

Matt offered Neil a french fry. He’d reluctantly agreed to leaving the library for a quick lunch and was regretting it.

“Um,” Neil responded. “Kind of. They’re temporary.”

“Ouch,” Matt chuckled. “Is that how you talk about me?”

“I just meant they’re not going to be in town for long. They’re staying with me until the end of the month.” The best lies were based in truth, his mother had taught him that.

“Oh,” Matt nodded. “Who are they?”

If Neil said their names, Matt would make the connection. He’d be a fool not to. ‘Andrew of Macedon’ had been the only thing Neil had wanted to talk about for days.  _ Think, Neil, think _ , “They’re family friends.”

“Don’t force yourself to answer. No, that was just a joke, I didn’t bring you here to ask about your personal life. I just thought I’d open with some small talk.” Matt steepled his fingers. “This...to be honest, Neil, it’s kind of an intervention. You need to give Kevin his book back. He’s driving us all crazy and it  _ is _ his book, and we  _ were _ the ones who took it.”

“Kevin will get his book back,” Neil said.

“Good,” Matt breathed a sigh of relief. 

Kevin could not have his book back, that was what Neil was thinking for the rest of lunch. It stewed in the back of his mind as a plan started to form, and it was what drove him to stop at the arts and crafts store on the way back to the apartment. He picked through the aisles meticulously, unsure of what he would need.

It was unlikely that Andrew would help him with this, and Neil already suspected Aaron of sabotage. But when he got to the apartment, the twins were gone. It was strange, and Neil had to tell himself that they wouldn’t go to Kevin as he spread his supplies out on the counter. 

Except that another part of him, one that spoke with his mother’s voice, reminded him that Andrew had never explicitly agreed not to. He’d said to return the book to Kevin at the end of the month. A very open ended statement.

Opening the sketchbook he’d bought, he tried to focus. He didn’t remember the illustration exactly, but an approximation would have to be good enough. And the ancient greek? Forget about it. He would certainly need Andrew’s help for that, if this was going to work. But making a passable forgery was the only plan Neil had.

He was a decent artist. By the time the twins got back, he almost felt confident enough to start practicing with ink.

Aaron took one look at the project and scoffed.

“That’s never going to fool Kevin,” Andrew said.

“No, not right now it won’t.” Neil agreed.

The twins, unsure what to do with that other than to react with scorn, brewed a pot of coffee and sat down for an evening of chanel surfing. Andrew had taught Aaron how to use the microwave and they used it liberally throughout the night, heating and reheating their pot of mac n cheese whenever it went even slightly cold.

The food in ancient Macedon couldn’t have spoiled them so badly that they couldn’t stomach cold noodles, so Neil assumed it was the novelty of the microwave and that some day they’d give it a rest.

When he pulled out the tome, he finally warranted some of their attention. He settled himself against the wall next to the TV and breathed in deep. If he messed up now, that would be it. No do-overs. “Just keep watching.”

Aaron huffed, very put upon, but didn’t move.

He sketched the twins in pencil first, taking his time with light, barely-there lines. When he uncapped the inkpen, it had been nearly 45 minutes. 

The lines he drew were slow, and dark. They spilled across the page in sure strokes. He focused on Andrew, first, the sharp form of him and the nothingness in his face. The light of the TV flickered across his cheeks, illuminating dark gold eyes, and Neil did his best to translate all of it.

He didn’t want to be, but Neil was suddenly aware of Andrew’s arms. They were corded with strong, hard muscle that flexed when he moved. And the muscle shirt he’d picked out for himself revealed a swath of his chest, which was just as trained.

Neil had the sudden image of Andrew practicing lifting the couch whenever Neil was gone, like weights at a gym. He wondered how many reps Andrew could manage.

“Hey,” someone snapped, and when Neil blinked he found Aaron.

“Did you just snap your fingers at me?”

“You looked distracted.”

“I’m not distracted.” Neil argued.

“You weren’t drawing.”

“I was thinking.”

“About?”

“Andrew’s arms,” Neil said, unsure why the reply felt so heavy.

Aaron scoffed, “Disgusting.”

Neil looked at Andrew’s arms, compared them to Aaron’s arms, and decided not to say anything. 

“Shut up. Both of you.” Andrew said. He was hypnotized by a Betty Crocker ice cream cake commercial. Aaron shot his brother a disbelieving look, and Andrew ignored it.

When it came time to draw Aaron, he did his best to look standoffish. His posture was crooked and his face slightly turned away. Neil tried to recall what he’d been like in the original illustration, but all he could remember was that Aaron had been slightly behind his brother. 

He finished up with the poppies, and said, “Are you going to help me with the greek?”

The whole plan hinged on this, and Neil held his breath for a full minute before Andrew stood and walked over. Andrew took the pen, and the letters flowed onto the page with careful precision. 

They studied the finished product together. It wasn’t a bad reproduction. It was a decent approximation. But...

“It will never fool him,” Aaron said.

 

~~~

 

Kevin’s office looked just like every other university professors’--with the added element of priceless artifacts strewn about like conversation pieces. It wasn’t careless, Kevin obviously went to great lengths to preserve these items, but neither were they behind a particularly well locked door.

Neil proved that with a lockpick and five minutes.

Most of those five minutes had been spent looking behind his shoulder. The library was connected to a series of history department offices, and the door between them had a small window in it. People could come at Neil from either end of the hallway, and they would see him before he saw them. 

He made it inside without issue, but realized immediately why his plan wouldn’t work. The office had been torn apart, top to bottom. The contents of the desk were strewn wildly across the surface and onto the floor. The filing cabinets had all been moved, and no one had bothered to move them back. He could even see that the ceiling tiles had been moved around to search up there.

Neil couldn’t just place the book on top of the mess. It would be too obvious that it had been stolen, and then returned. The smart thing to do was hide it somewhere, and let Kevin find it. While Neil was certain Kevin wouldn’t be fooled into thinking he’d really lost it, he wouldn’t be able to prove it had been stolen. 

Neil backed out of the office and retreated down the hall. 

He knew for a fact that Kevin had already gone through most of the library, so Neil didn’t waste time looking for a spot there. After a few moments of thought he decided on a plan of action and switched course to the desk Matt worked in the afternoons.

“Matt, I need your help.”

“With what?” Matt asked. Neil knew that Matt often used Neil’s quest as a way to get out of other work. Since Neil was a student, sitting and helping him research all day technically didn’t violate any of Matt’s job description, and any work that was specifically designated to Matt, Matt could get done when Neil wasn’t around.

Right now, a cart of weeded books waited to have their labels crossed out.

“I need you to distract Nicky while I put the book in his car.” Neil explained his plan.

“That could work. Maybe they’ll even believe that’s where it was the whole time.” Matt capped his sharpie, but it did nothing for the chemical stench around his desk.

“Maybe,” Neil echoed.

“Hey,” Matt called to another grad student library assistant. “I’m gonna get a breather. Can you believe these fumes?”

They waited outside the library, staking out the small parking strip out back that staff used. Around noon, Dan brought them lunch, and teased Neil the whole time.

Neil liked Dan. She was kind, she was friendly, but she was tough, too. Sometimes, Neil found himself seeking her approval, and it always threw him off balance that he cared so much what she thought of him. 

He was thrown equally off balance by Dan and Matt’s PDA. After she’d left, Neil thought about asking Matt...well, he wasn’t sure what. He hadn’t been lying to Andrew. He’d never felt drawn to anyone sexually, but now he wondered what it would be like. He wanted to understand what the curse was doing to Andrew.

There wasn’t a right way to phrase that question.

It took awhile for Nicky to pull in, and when he did, Kevin burst from the car like he was being chased. Striding into the library like he was headed into a warzone, Kevin didn’t even notice Matt and Neil. Or, if he did, he didn’t think they were relevant enough to acknowledge. 

Nicky, however, perked up at the friendly smile Matt threw his way.

“Matt! And your mystery man!” Nicky made as if to come to them, but Matt’s long legs assured that he made it to Nicky first. They stood by Nicky’s car, Kevin’s door still wide open in front of them.

“You still in town, Hemmick?”

Nicky closed the door.  _ No! _

“Until Kevin finds the book, I think I have to be. I’m worried he’ll have a heart attack, and it will be like those gross tragedies where no one notices until he starts to stink up the apartment and a neighbor comes to check it out.” 

Nicky and Matt continued to make small talk. Neil had been hoping to catch Nicky while one of the car doors was still open--that way he could slide the book under a seat fairly inconspicuously. But, the car was closed up, and it was with an apologetic look Neil’s way that Matt asked his next question.

“Hey, could we catch a ride? If you’re leaving.”

“Sure,” Nicky said, “where to?”

“My place.” Matt shrugged.

Neil didn’t like that. He hoped Nicky was able to drag Kevin out to party tonight, and that he would stuff his car with friends who couldn’t drive, and Kevin would be forced to turn his suspicions to him, but he didn’t think that’s what would happen. Now it would be obvious who’d left the book in the car. 

The discomfort didn’t fade when they got to Matt’s apartment. They invited Nicky up for drinks, and since Matt and Neil had supposedly had plans, Neil had to come along. He left the book under the backseat, tucked into a corner that Neil hoped would be tight enough to pass for having lost it, but loose enough that it would wiggle out soon. 

“Math like physics or math like algebra?” Nicky asked. Neil wasn’t sure what Nicky meant by that, but it was clear that Nicky had been speaking to him. The other man elaborated, “Because the hoodie says ‘algebra’ but your eyes say ‘science’.”

“It’s a general math degree, so i’m taking a little bit of everything,” Neil answered. 

“Both. I like a man who can do both.”

Matt thought the whole thing was funny, and frequently set up jokes for Nicky follow through on. By the time Neil finally excused himself, Nicky was practically begging to take him home. Neil didn’t like that, had brief panicked visions of Nicky pulling up to his house and finding Andrew and Aaron out suntanning in the front yard.

But Neil climbed out of the car, and his apartment was as unremarkable as ever. He thanked Nicky, and when the panic abated enough to let other emotions in, he decided he’d never been so ready to roll his eyes at someone in his entire life. He thought about what Andrew would say about his descendent, then started.

Had Andrew had a kid? Had Aaron?

“He’s descended from our uncle,” Andrew answered when Neil got home. “He’s related to us but only distantly.”

“Very distantly,” Aaron said dourly.

That wasn’t the only surprise Andrew had for him when he got there. Apparently, he’d figured out how to mail order things off the infomercials and Andrew and Aaron had taken it upon themselves to recreate a cooking catalogue.

Andrew had yet to figure out the physics of melting chocolate, but Neil trusted he would get there.

Aaron had a game of Operation out on the table, and was taking his one-player adaption very seriously. Neil wasn’t going to ask, but when he sat down across the table from him Aaron said, “You cannot join. This is my patient.”

“Did you hide the book?”

“In Nicky’s car,” Neil nodded. “Hopefully they think it was there all along.”

“Unlikely,” Andrew said.

Neil did not need someone voicing his inner doubts. Especially not someone who’d likely sustained multiple chocolate burns in the past 8 hours. Neil supposed Aaron could patch his brother up if he ever looked away from his board game.

“There’s something I still don’t get,” Neil said. “How did you get trapped in the book together?” 

Aaron froze and Andrew continued fiddling with his specialty chocolate pots. 

“You two never talk about your childhoods, but from what I can see it's almost like you didn’t even know each other until you got trapped in the book together. And even now, you don’t really act like brothers.”

“How would you know?” Aaron challenged. “You’re an only child.”

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“You’re poking around somewhere you don’t belong,” Andrew warned, at that was as much of an answer as Neil would get. It was as much as an answer as Neil needed--he now knew a little bit more about them, and that felt like a victory.

“I’m taking a bath,” Aaron said.

“Not before me,” Andrew argued. “I have chocolate everywhere and you take hours in the bathroom.”

And, Neil supposed the ensuing argument proved him wrong. They did act like brother’s sometimes. The argument took them upstairs and Neil was left alone in the kitchen. He wondered if Andrew would come back to do the dishes. Somehow, Neil doubted that.

He settled in with a few books, flipping through and looking for some semblance of Andrew’s old life.

He’d disappeared before Riko consolidated his power, of that Neil was sure. Riko had spent the better part of decades capturing greek demigods and either converting them to his side or killing them painfully. Kevin of Thrace had been one of the last to be taken--and it had taken centuries for Kevin to break away again.

Neil wondered if finding Andrew’s book had something to do with it.

He just didn’t know enough about the timeline. He felt like he was putting together a puzzle with only half of the pieces. By the time someone burst through his door his head was spinning with all he didn’t know.

Neil shot to his feet, sure he would turn and find his father.

_ “You’ve been asking the wrong questions, junior.”  _ He could almost hear his father’s voice.

But it was Kevin who charged him from the doorway, Nicky trailing behind him like debris sucked in by a storm.

“Where are they,” Kevin demanded.

Neil backed into the kitchen, looking Kevin over for weak spots and finding none. Kevin was taller, stronger, and had trained for centuries to take out men more dangerous than Neil.

He caught hold of Neil’s throat with a hand like a vice and slammed him back against the counter. Neil scrambled for something, anything, and bashed Kevin over the head with a hot chocolate pot. 

“Ah!” Kevin grunted as he stumbled away. Neil wielded the pot threateningly, but Kavin had recovered and disarmed him before Neil could plan his next strike. 

“It is a fake,” Kevin hissed, “Did you think for a moment that it would fool me?”

Neil grabbed a Bake n’ Fill cake box Andrew hadn’t unpacked yet and threw it at Kevin. Neil tried to dart past him while he was distracted, but Kevin caught it and threw it back, and it got Neil in the back. “Hnng,” Neil choked out.

Kevin grabbed Neil and hauled him to the couch, pinning him down.

“Your mistake was in the greek. The sketch is wrong, the writing is perfect. You could never have reproduced it, so where is the man who wrote it for you?”

Neil wondered if Andrew’s vague, semi-agreement to stay away from Kevin extended to ignoring as Kevin strangled Neil on the couch.

“Hey, murder is illegal now,” Nicky put in on Neil’s behalf.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you do,” Kevin snarled. “Always sneaking around the library, do you think I don’t know you haven’t been in my office before. You think I don’t know you’ve taken books off my shelf? But you finally stole the wrong one.”

“Actually, he stole the right one,” Andrew drawled from the staircase.

Kevin looked up and his expression was equal parts hope and dread.

“Are you…” Kevin trailed off. “We could kill him right here.”

“Leave it to me,” Andrew ordered.

“You can’t kill him, the curse won’t let you hurt him unless he wants you to,” Kevin said. “I have no such restrictions. Say the words, Andrew.”

“I’d be fine with you killing him,” Aaron said.

“I vote not killing him. So we’re tied,” Nicky wavered, looking at Neil and clearly wanting to step forward, but keeping himself rooted by the door. He may not want to watch Neil die, but Neil didn’t think he’d stop it if the others wanted it bad enough.

And Kevin wanted it very badly.

Kevin eyed Neil with suspicion, and Neil glared back with equal distrust.

“Andrew,” Kevin tried again, “the last one--”

“I thought I told you to leave it to me.”

Kevin pursed his lips.

“Take Aaron. Neil and I will remain here, we have unfinished business.”

“What?” Aaron turned on his brother. “I’m not leaving you alone here. With  _ him _ .”

“I’m not interested in Andrew.” Neil said.

“They’re all  _ interested _ .” Aaron sneered.

“Not me. Not like that. I won’t do anything to him.”

“You did something to him by summoning him.” Aaron accused.

“I’m not going to say it again,” Andrew cut in. “You said it yourself, Aaron, three’s a crowd, and you don’t have the kind of connections I do. I told Neil I’d help him and I mean to follow through with it. You go off and party it up for the rest of the month. Do not argue with me.”

Aaron was effectively shut up, his jaw clenched stiffly enough that he wouldn’t be able to argue even if he’d wanted to. Fists clenched at his sides, he descended the staircase, glower fixed on Neil.

That glower promised things, deadly things, if Neil tried anything.

Aaron didn’t have anything to worry about.

Kevin did not like the orders either, was clearly forcing himself to keep his mouth shut while he found another way to argue. But Andrew knew his old friend well and did not give him the chance. Just grabbed Neil by the elbow and steered him away.

“You can show yourself out.” Andrew said.

Left alone in the living room, without anyone to start a fight with, Kevin gave in. Taking Aaron and Nicky with him, he left. Andrew and Neil sat in silence in the upstairs hallway for a long moment.

“What did Kevin mean when he talked about the last one?”

“The last person to summon us was Drake.” Andrew said. “He was an officer in the army and found the book on a tour. He was...enthused, when he realized what we were.”

“And the whole month…”

“He still lived with his parents, and he didn’t want them to know. Idiot kept us in his room the entire time. And when the month was up and we were imprisoned again, he panicked. He tried to summon us back. Eventually, he went to ‘world renowned expert’ Kevin for advice, and Kevin claimed the book when Drake died.”

“Kevin never summoned you?”

“I’d have killed him if he had.” Andrew said plainly.

Neil rubbed his throat, knowing he’d have a nasty bruise the next morning. He hoped Matt hadn’t been caught in the crossfire, he didn’t deserve to be hurt.

“What about Aaron?” Neil asked, and he wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that question, just that he wanted to see how Andrew would respond.

“No one touches Aaron.”

“But you’re stuck in there together.”

“No one,” Andrew repeated, deadly serious, “touches him.”

“Alright. No one will touch him,” Neil found himself saying, realizing his tense had shifted too late.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Neil knew that, but he couldn’t stop himself from meaning it. 

“And no one will touch you.”

“Don’t,” Andrew barked the order, the way he might’ve barked orders at his men. Neil wondered at what Seth had said--that Andrew’s men had never really accepted him. That none of his ‘other’ men did what he said. Neil had assumed it was another sexual reference at the time, but now Neil wondered if it might’ve been about Andrew’s time as a general.

Neil could imagine Andrew was the kind of authority people would chafe at. He was disagreeable, and hard to read, and not prone to inspiring the masses. But then, the Andrew that stood before him now wasn’t  _ the _ Andrew of Macedon--he was what had happened after Andrew of Macedon had been cursed.

Andrew was answering questions for once, and Neil thought about his next one carefully. Instead of asking one, he decided to give something up. 

“My mother wanted to make sure I never got attached to anyone, because getting attached would slow me down.” Neil said. “I’ve kissed one person, and when my mother caught us she beat me. I mean it when I said I wouldn’t touch you. I think it would hurt me, more than I would enjoy it.”

“She was right,” Andrew said after a long moment. “Getting attached doesn’t just slow you down. It stops you completely.”

 

~~~

 

They fell into a comfortable routine.

Andrew had been right--three was a crowd. But between the two of them, the apartment was almost comfortable again. Neil didn’t go to the library as often as he used to, just to return books and check new ones out.

“You got a life,” Matt sounded pleasantly surprised. Neil took that to mean Kevin had left Matt out of it and breathed a sigh of relief.

Kevin dropped off the map, too. Now that his book had been recovered, and he had Aaron to look after, he didn’t seem as interested in academia. About a week later, Neil learned from a few gossiping grad students that ‘looking after’ Aaron mostly entailed taking him clubbing and coming back at three in the morning completely wasted.

Neil expected Andrew to react scornfully when Neil passed that along, but instead, he took it silently. The next night, Andrew threw some of Neil’s new clothes at him while he was reading a book and said, “We’re going out.”

When they went outside, Nicky’s car was parked at the curb. They crowded in, and pressed up against Andrew in the backseat, Neil was aware of every movement the other man made. Neil had never seen Andrew’s bare legs, but judging from the feel they were as hard and his arms. 

Kevin shifted uncomfortably on the other side. “I should have shotgun,” he muttered darkly.

“I called shotgun first,” Aaron taunted.

Nicky whipped a corner, throwing Neil into Kevin and Andrew into Neil.

The club they pulled up to was called Eden’s Twilight, and once they made it inside Neil was too preoccupied with why on earth Andrew had brought them there to feel intimidated by the noise and the crowds.

Andrew tracked Aaron across the dance floor the entire night, though Andrew hardly left the table they’d staked out. Kevin sat with them, and started chatting with Andrew in greek. To Neil’s surprise, Andrew responded fairly easily. 

The two men knew Neil’s ancient greek wasn’t perfect, but he wondered if they knew it was good enough to get the jist of what they were talking about.

“They say you’re two inches taller in the morning because gravity hasn’t forced you down yet,” Kevin said. “But you’ve been stuck in a gravity-less void for decades and still look as short as the last time we saw each other.”

“And they say old people are supposed to shrink.” Andrew took a shot.

“I think I have gotten shorter,” Kevin looked troubled by that.

“You’re still freakishly tall,” Andrew consoled him.

“Not as tall as Jean. The last time we saw each other he was at least an inch taller.” Neil recognized the name Jean. Andrew had mentioned it when he’d been listing people he’d done battle against--Jean, the ‘idiot Etruscan’.

“And when was that?”

“About five years ago in Reno.”

“What were you doing in Reno?”

“Nicky wanted to go. And you’ve been out of the world too long to be judgemental about Reno,” Kevin said. “Do you even know where it is?”

“I can be judgemental about whatever I want. Especially when it comes to Nicky.”

“He’s not that bad,” Kevin said. 

“And especially when it comes to Jean.”

“Jean isn’t that bad,” Kevin defended him. “Riko was there, too, seemed agitated about something but I was never able to figure out what.”

“Riko is always agitated about something. He has too much baggage, too many buttons to push.”

“And you don’t? Are we going to talk about this? Why are you staying with the man who summoned you when you have a way out?”

Andrew didn’t reply, and when Neil looked up he saw his deep inspection of the empty glasses had been noticed. “Why don’t you go get us more drinks, Neil.”

Andrew said ‘Neil’ the way he might’ve said ‘eavesdropper’ and Neil didn’t argue.

He’d been caught.

Lifting the tray over his head to make sure no one knocked the glasses over as he weaved his way to the bar, he wondered what Andrew could possibly be saying. He wasn’t nervous about Andrew asking Kevin about his father, even if Kevin was one of the few people who might actually know who Nathan was.

Maybe Andrew just wanted a break from Aaron. They had spent the past milenia together.

Neil ordered the same thing Andrew had gotten the first time, and tuned out until the bartender spoke to him. He was an average sized man, unremarkable besides his many piercings. 

“What’s the deal with him?” the bartender was looking at Andrew.

Neil wondered where to begin. He wasn’t interested in small talk, and doubted the bartender was either, so Neil answered assuming it had been a proposition, “He’s grumpy and doesn’t like to be touched.”

“So you’re not here together?” The bartender asked, proving Neil’s instincts right.

“As a couple? No.”

“As a casual hookup?”

“No.”

Andrew caught them looking, and gave Neil a long, hard stare before deciding he didn’t care and turning back to Kevin.

The bartender snorted. “I’m not stupid enough to believe that. He might not like being touched, but he definitely wants to be touched by you.”

Neil didn’t want to agree, but after that night at the club Andrew’s gaze did get heavier. The other man looked longer, brushed against Neil when they passed each other; little things that wouldn’t have meant anything except that it was Andrew, and Neil knew what the curse was urging him to do.

Neil couldn’t fight the nagging feeling that sooner or later, it was going to turn into a problem.

 

~~~

 

Neil was trapped at a Denny’s with a goddess. 

“It’s been golden,” Matt crowed. “It’s like the end of some oppressive totalitarian regime. I can actually shelve books in the classics section without Kevin going through and reordering them. He doesn’t work by the dewey decimal system--I don’t even know if he knows what he’s doing. He just...rearranges everything and then insists his way makes more sense.”

Dan laughed. “He’s going to come back and flip out when he sees you shelved everything right.”

“It will be so worth it though.” Matt sighed dreamily.

“And what about you?” Allison was looking at Neil. “Andrew hadn’t murdered you. And, you’re wearing the clothes I bought you.”

“Andrew?” Matt asked, shooting a curious glance at Neil. 

“The...ah, the family friend who’s been staying with me.” Neil answered. Don’t make the connection, don’t make the connection. He directed the prayer to Tyche before he could stop it, and Allison snorted. 

Dan moved the conversation to a baby her friend was having, and Matt didn’t ask about Andrew again.

Neil went with Allison when she left to pay the bill.

“Allison,” he started. “I’m not asking you to give up any closely guarded secrets, but...what common knowledge do people have about Aaron and Andrew?”

Allison didn’t seem to have any reservations about gossip, and considered the question seriously. “Aaron fell in love with the wrong person. Crossed the wrong god. And when it was discovered Aaron’s long lost identical twin was a general of Macedonian forces...well, suddenly it was a different game. Andrews enemies got involved and when Andrew tried to help him, I think. I’m not sure anyone knows all of what happened, but it ended with both of them cursed to a book.”

“Andrew’s enemies?”

Allison tapped her nails on the counter while the waitress ran her card. “Andrew had a lot of enemies, so no one's really sure which ones were in on it. Some say Riko, some say Aphrodite, some say Zeus himself.”

“Aphrodite?”

“Aaron and Andrew’s mother.”

Out of all the gods, Neil never would have guessed Aphrodite was the Minyard’s mother.

“I thought the Minyard’s mother was the mortal one.”

“Aphrodite gave them to one of her temple attendants to raise,” Allison told him. “But that’s a fuzzy story too. Andrew ended up lost, or given away, and Aaron was the one the human woman raised. I’m not sure they even knew they were twins until the curse.”

“Why would Andrew give so much to help a brother he didn’t know?”

“Who can tell why Andrew does anything? The guy is crazy--always has been. And I doubt getting put into a book as an immortal sex slave was plan a.”

“Doubtful,” Neil agreed.

When he got home that night, Andrew had locked himself in Neil’s room, so Neil slept on the couch. When Neil woke up, Andrew had already left. And when Andrew got home again he grabbed a loaf of bread and some cheese before going to lock himself upstairs again.

“Are you avoiding me?” Neil caught him before Andrew could shut the door.

“Observant,” Andrew said.

“Because you still haven’t figured out who Nathan is?”

“Because I’ve never gone this long without fucking a summoner and the curse doesn’t like it,” Andrew shoved the door shut. “Just leave me alone.”

  
~~~

 

Neil had hoped Andrew would work through it, but Andrew’s mood only got worse through the week. He avoided Neil at any and all costs--even climbing out the bedroom window one morning to avoid passing Neil on the couch. 

He didn’t want to, but eventually Neil had to admit this was a problem. And there was only one person he could think to ask about it.

The more he explained, the darker Aaron’s expression got.

“Stay away from my brother,” Aaron said when Neil was done.

“From what I can tell, I’m not the problem. Andrew is.”

Aaron’s eyes narrowed. Neil had seen only apathy from Aaron, but the look trained on him now was anything but. “What did you just say?”

“You’ve been listening to me, right? If anyone makes a move, it’s going to be Andrew. He can’t even look at me without--”

_ Crack _ . Aaron’s fist slammed into his face. 

Nicky and Kevin had been politely eavesdropping from across Kevin’s living room, but after Aaron threw the first punch, they rushed forward. They needn’t have worried. Aaron wasn’t any more of a fighter than Neil was, and Neil wasn’t sure they’d have done any real damage to each other even if they had decided to throw down.

Still, it throbbed.

“What was that for?” Nicky demanded.

“It was for being a creep.”

“If I wanted to do anything with Andrew, I’d just stand in his way until the curse won out. I wouldn’t have come here to ask for  _ help _ .”

“Why don’t you tell me what you really want. Why don’t you be honest for once.” Aaron challenged.

“Why don’t you,” Neil shot back, “if you’re both cursed, why aren’t you having the same problem Andrew is having? Or is it too much of a secret for you to give up to help your brother.”

Aaron scowled. For a moment Neil thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he gave in. “I was the one who should have been cursed. I fell in love, and it made a god angry and...Someone figured out Andrew and I were brothers. Andrew pretended to be me, and he was cursed instead. 

“The gods still thought it would be funny to stick us together for eternity, give us a chance to ‘make up for lost time’, so it’s not like I got away with anything. But the curse is Andrews. And Andrew has been stepping in between me and the creeps who summon us for centuries. You think I’m just going to leave him with you when he’s like this?”

“No, I don’t.” Neil said. “I think he should stay here with you guys.” 

“Good.” Aaron huffed, still angry. “I think he should come here now, and I think you need to stay away until we’re gone.”


End file.
